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The Biden administration will try to strengthen US-India ties while the Indian leader looks to shore up votes for next year's electionThe symbolism of the visit will be hard to avoid. As Narendra Modi arrives in Washington DC on Wednesday - the capital of a country he was once prohibited from visiting for almost 10 years - he will join the ranks of Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Volodymyr Zelenskiy as one of the few leaders to address a joint session of Congress more than once.Statements from US officials ahead of the visit have been rapturous on the subject of US-India relations, praising the significant defence partnership" and describing it as a unique connection between the world's oldest and largest democracies". Before his departure from India, Modi said: This special invitation is a reflection of the vigour and vitality of the partnership between our democracies." Continue reading...

Underwater noises detected by Canadian aircraft, as oxygen levels reduce to around 24 hours of breathable air. Plus, finding joy in life without children

Far from being persecuted, Trump has been handled with vastly more deference than anyone else would beDonald Trump's indictment earlier this month on 37 counts related to mishandling classified information set off a firestorm on the political right. Conservatives accused Joe Biden of using the justice system to prosecute his main political rival and attempting to steal" the 2024 election. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, promised to hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable". In short, the right wants us to believe that Biden and his administration will stop at nothing to put Trump in jail as quickly as possible.In fact, the exact opposite is true. Worried about just this type of accusation, the justice department under Merrick Garland and the FBI have approached their investigations of Trump much too cautiously. Far from being persecuted because of who he is, Trump's status as a former president and as the unofficial leader of the Republican party have led to him being handled with vastly more deference than anyone else would be. The result has been a series of delays and missteps which may allow Trump to escape accountability once again.Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States at Leiden University. He hosts a podcast called America Explained and writes a newsletter of the same name Continue reading...

Keith Flores says he never heard from Catholic church superiors to whom the priest reported his transgressions in 1999

Support for organized labor is soaring. Yet the biggest US union coalition endorsed Biden without asking anything in returnAt a splashy event in Philadelphia last weekend, the AFL-CIO, America's largest union coalition, announced its endorsement of Joe Biden for president in 2024. You may notice that the election is still 17 months away. This was the earliest endorsement in the AFL-CIO's history, amounting to an all-in bet by organized labor that the interests of the Democratic president are identical to its own. The problem with this is not so much that labor might have decided to endorse a Republican - whoever that party's candidate is, they are sure to despise the concept of working-class empowerment - but rather the fact that the endorsement is an implicit acceptance of the status quo.These union leaders believe that the Biden White House as currently constituted is the best they can hope to get. Indeed, they are overjoyed by what they have gotten already. It is this lack of ambition that is the labor movement's biggest flaw. They have been beaten down for so long that they have lost their ability to believe that the world they deserve will ever be real. This is a sort of trauma, induced by a decades-long decline in union power. By settling for what they have, unfortunately, they have forsaken their leverage to ask for more.Hamilton Nolan is a labor journalist based in New York Continue reading...

Christian Grey types are being supplanted in romance novels by heroes with a sweet, golden retriever energy - and some conservatives aren't happyBuckle up, ladies - it's squishy boi summer. According to a recent piece in Publishers Weekly, the male leads of romance novels aren't quite as hard as they used to be. The hot new industry trend is books featuring squishy-centred men" AKA sweet cinnamon roll heroes" and golden retrievers".Perhaps you're thinking that sounds ... sticky? And sort of slobbery? Look, I don't know all the sordid details but I can assure you that in romance novel lingo a cinnamon roll" means a sweet, supportive hero: a gentleman in the streets, who irons your sheets. That sort of thing. And a golden retriever" is an upbeat love interest with a floppy, friendly energy. The opposite, in other words, of an aggressive, domineering alpha such as Christian Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Pause on loan payments set to end in October as political fight over Biden's forgiveness plan rages on and has been tied up in courtsMany Americans are dreading the return of interest accrual and the restarting of their monthly student loan payments as a huge political fight over Joe Biden's debt forgiveness plan rages on.Americans have $1.635tn in federal student loan debt, held by 43.8 million borrowers. Some 26 million people applied or were automatically accepted for student debt relief under Biden's plan before applications were suspended because of lawsuits launched by Republicans. Continue reading...

US president's comments come just as two countries seek to dial down intense rivalryChina's foreign ministry has accused the US president of political provocation" after Joe Biden called Xi Jinping a dictator".The comments seriously violated China's political dignity", foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday. Continue reading...

The world must convince autocrats that if they attack their neighbours they will ultimately foot the bill for everythingWe have no doubt that the war with Russia will end with Ukraine's victory. But when the war is over, the big question will be who will pay for its consequences? Who will pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine? Today an international Ukraine recovery conference begins in London. This is how we see it.There is not a snowball's chance in hell that Putin's Russia will pay Ukraine reparations for the destruction.Denys Shmyhal is the prime minister of UkraineDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The GOP is obsessed with the president's son, but the party's attacks make it difficult to discern legitimate concern from crazy conspiraciesSweetheart deal!" Two-tiered justice!" Mere traffic ticket!"Republicans had their applause lines ready on Tuesday when Joe Biden's son Hunter struck a plea deal over unpaid taxes, and gun possession while being a drug user, that is likely to keep him out of prison. Continue reading...

The AI tool won't offer a healing touch or resolve existential grief - but I will still be telling trainees to consult the chatbot in trying timesAre you getting nausea?No. Continue reading...

Ruling states that the prohibition violated due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and familiesA federal judge struck down Arkansas' first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children as unconstitutional Tuesday, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions.US district Judge Jay Moody issued a permanent injunction against the Arkansas law, which would have prohibited doctors from providing gender-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18. Continue reading...

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Most unhoused people are from in state and desire to find housing, while Black and older people are disproportionately affectedNearly half of all unhoused adults in California are over the age of 50, with Black residents dramatically overrepresented, according to the largest study of the state's homeless population in decades.University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) research released on Tuesday also revealed that 90% of the population lost their housing in California, with 75% of them now living in the same county where they were last housed. The study further found that nearly nine out of 10 people reported that the cost of housing was the main barrier to leaving homelessness. Continue reading...

The case has already resulted in a political uproar as Republicans express outrage over plea dealHunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, will plead guilty to two counts of misdemeanor tax crimes and accept a deal with prosecutors related to a separate illegal firearm possession charge. The charges and plea deal, which authorities announced in a court filing on Tuesday, will end a five-year criminal investigation into Biden.The case has already resulted in a political uproar as Republicans, fresh off Donald Trump's second criminal indictment, express outrage over the plea deal and appear eager to redirect public attention to Hunter Biden. The agreement between 53-year-old Biden and authorities will likely mean he avoids any jail time, as well as set up a frequent talking point for the 2024 presidential election. Continue reading...

US Coast Guard officials have said the missing submersible Titan carrying five people has about 40 hours of breathable air left. Capt Jamie Frederick was addressing reporters in Boston on the third day of the search for the vessel and crew members that disappeared on Sunday on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, 12,500ft below the surface of the Atlantic. He stressed that a complex search-and-rescue operation covering 7,600 sq miles - and involving US Coast Guard and US navy aircraft and vessels, as well as resources from the Canadian military - was under way but had so far not yielded any results

Prosecutors say Operation Fox Hunt' is a Beijing effort to pressure Chinese nationals in the US to return home to face chargesA former New York City police sergeant and two Chinese citizens living in the US have been convicted of various charges in a trial showcasing Chinese efforts to pressure expatriates into returning home, part of a program called Operation Fox Hunt".Michael McMahon, who now works as a private investigator, Zheng Congying and Zhu Yong were accused of taking part in scare tactics aimed at a former Chinese official. Continue reading...

President's son will plead guilty to two counts wilful failure to pay federal income tax, DoJ says in court filing

News that a quick siesta can improve cognitive function is little surprise to those who've seen the results of my 2pm dozeSome anecdotal evidence regarding daytime napping and brain health: last week, directly after lunch, I turned on the television to check the cricket before returning to work. When I woke up on the sofa 15 minutes later, the crossword puzzle in my lap was complete.These findings are a little hard to quantify, because I slept through them. Perhaps I completed the puzzle just before I conked out. It's possible, I suppose, that a mischievous person stole the crossword from my lap, filled it in and put it back. Of course I prefer the idea that I finished the crossword myself, while unconscious, because it reinforces my assertion that I'm getting things done even when my eyes are closed.Tim Dowling is a regular Guardian contributor Continue reading...

Archetypes, synergies, books about benches - try as they might to move on, the eyeballs come only when they mine their royal pastsIf you enjoy podcasts in the victimless-crime genre, do take a few minutes to catch Spotify's head of podcast innovation and monetisation calling Prince Harry and his wife Meghan fucking grifters" . This chap Bill Simmons was speaking out shortly after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex parted ways" with Spotify, having made a single series as the result of a supposedly multi-year deal signed back in 2020, which was at the time valued at around $20m.For whatever reason, Spotify and the Sussexes seem to have decided they simply couldn't face another backbreaking day down the content mine together, which means we are left solely with Archetypes. Should you have yet to download it, this is a 12-parter - though feels longer - presented by Meghan, and centred on a series of stereotypical labels that are attached to women to hold them back. Diva", singleton", ambitious" ... that sort of thing. Incredible to break things off here, just when the perfect season two opener presents itself in the form of the label fucking grifter".Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Justice department promises speedy trial in Florida following a 37-count indictment, but lengthy delay is still widely expectedUS district judge Aileen Cannon has set an initial trial date of 14 August in Florida on former US president Donald Trump's federal charges of willful retention of classified government records and obstruction of justice, according to a court order on Tuesday.The justice department's special counsel in the case, Jack Smith, promised a speedy trial after a 37-count indictment charging Trump with willfully retaining classified government records and obstructing justice. Continue reading...

Angela Paxton did not say whether or not she will recuse herself on vote to remove state attorney general Ken Paxton from officeTexas state lawmaker Angela Paxton said Monday she will carry out my duties" ahead of the historic impeachment trial of her husband, Republican state attorney general Ken Paxton, but did not outright say whether or not she would recuse herself on a vote to remove him from office.Breaking weeks of public silence since her husband was impeached in May, Angela Paxton did not address the accusations in a statement released by her office. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson's party antics of course deserve scrutiny, but a chief architect of our woeful Covid response has virtually got away with itIn the alternative universe in which I advise David Cameron, here's what I would have proffered in advance of his appearance at the Covid inquiry: offer a concession of failure on the part of your administration, presenting an image of humility without inviting public anger. Crucially, deflect attention away from the policies you pursued that stripped Britain of its defences when the pandemic hit.Nothing fits the bill better than expressing regret that, in discussions about possible pandemics, there was too much of a focus on influenza at the expense of coronaviruses. It's calibrated to steal headlines. Rather than say David Cameron denies austerity left Britain unprepared for Covid", there will be a sense of you looking reflective about how things could have been done differently.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Edward Leigh's meeting with Hungary's far-right PM is part of a wider pattern - let's not be naive about what is going onThe Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh earlier this month tweeted a picture of him and his colleagues Christopher Chope and Ian Liddell-Grainger - all of them ERG members who drove the Brexit agenda - standing beside Hungary's far-right prime minister, Viktor Orban, at a gathering in Budapest. The tweet celebrated the trio learning about his country's effective ways of combating illegal migration".Their presence in Budapest, for a conference of parliamentarians from allied hard-right political parties across Europe, could easily be dismissed as fluff. But the spectacle highlights both troubling connections between Britain and Hungary's governing parties and the wishful thinking of UK Conservatives looking to Orbans Fidesz party for inspiration. Continue reading...

Comedy queen and director of Plan B talks about contraception, last year's Dobbs decision and the importance of connectionIt's not yet noon in Portland when Natalie Morales repairs to a modest Airbnb and plops on to a couch next to a deep-slumbering lap hound named Taco, a very good dog. Morales is filming a feature about veterans with PTSD that's only pressing on through the writers' strike because it's an independent film. Its small budget and tight schedule has Morales on call six days a week. But intense work schedules are nothing new for the 38-year-old multi-hyphenate dark comedy queen, whose deadpan acting credits run from Parks and Recreation to Santa Clarita Diet to The Morning Show. She also stars opposite Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings, which opened in theaters last weekend.Two years ago, after marking her feature directorial debut with Language Lessons (a Zoom dramedy she stars in and wrote with Mark Duplass), Morales was behind the camera again for Plan B - the coming-of-age story about a sheltered high school girl who road trips across South Dakota with her slacker best friend in search of emergency contraception after a regrettable sexual encounter. The film, warmly received by critics, has taken on additional heft in the wake of the supreme court's overturning Roe v Wade and putting contraceptive care under assault. Continue reading...

Spotify's Bill Simmons has described his former colleagues as a pair of grifters'. Other, unnamed commenters have been less kindWell, that's a wrap, then. Or is that the wrong terminology to use when talking about podcasts, rather than movies? I'm afraid I'm not an expert on podcasting. Neither, it seems, are Harry and Meghan. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as the pair still insist on being called, have parted ways with Spotify in questionable circumstances.A quick recap: in 2020, Archewell Audio, the Sussexes' podcast production company, signed an exclusive, $20m deal with Spotify to produce uplifting" audio projects. Spotify made a lot of noise at the time about how proud it was to partner with the pair and how wonderful and inspiring they were. Continue reading...

There is trouble ahead for Rishi Sunak, but the ex-PM's psychodrama is slipping down his list of prioritiesIn the buildup to the privileges committee's inquiry into whether Boris Johnson intentionally misled parliament over Covid breaches, the former prime minister and his supporters refused to go down without a fight. Team Johnson repeatedly questioned the integrity of the committee, likening it to a kangaroo court. When Johnson received a draft copy of the report stating that he had indeed misled parliament, the former prime minister was so angry that he quit, slamming its findings ahead of publication and labelling it a witch-hunt". His key ally Nadine Dorries warned that any Conservative MP who would vote for this report is fundamentally not a Conservative and will be held to account by members and the public", adding: deselections may follow. It's serious."And yet, very few Tory MPs appear to have taken Dorries that seriously. When the report - along with its recommendation of banning Johnson from having the Commons pass former MPs are entitled to - came to a vote on Monday night, 118 Tory MPs voted in favour. Only six MPs went against it, with Dorries, who is yet to officially quit despite announcing her intention to do so, notably absent. Nadine's gone missing," joked one minister.Katy Balls is the Spectator's political editor Continue reading...

Race against time to find craft that went missing on Sunday with five people onboard. Plus, does the world really need a $4,650 Indiana Jones bag?

In these dangerous times for LGBTQ+ people, a union contract is a line of defense against discrimination and abuseThese are dangerous times.Every week we learn of new attacks on trans kids' access to healthcare, restrictions on drag performances, and LGBTQ+ books banned from schools and libraries. Supreme court justices hint at reversals of decisions on marriage equality and the right to love. Rightwing extremists threaten the very foundation of our democracy with violence, misinformation and bigotry. And many of the cities and towns where we once found refuge are now too expensive for many LGBTQ+ people, especially our youth and elders.Cleve Jones has been an activist for LGBT rights for over 50 years and is a Community and Political Coordinator for Unite Here International Union. He is the author of When We Rise: My Life in the Movement. Continue reading...

Revelation of payments by Center for American Liberty blur lines between Harmeet Dhillon's non-profit work and political careerThe legal non-profit the Center for American Liberty, helmed by Harmeet Dhillon, paid more than $132,000 to a public relations firm that simultaneously represents the California Republican national committeewoman in her capacity as head of her own for-profit law firm and Republican activist.According to a client list published by Praetorian Public Relations, whose proprietor is Matt Shupe, the Contra Costa county Republican chair, the firm also represents other partners and associates of Dhillon Law, other state Republican officeholders, and individuals at the center of the Center for American Liberty's culture-war driven lawsuits. Continue reading...

Lawrence Hecker confessed to superiors he had molested multiple teenagers but he was never prosecuted, secret documents showThe last four Roman Catholic archbishops of New Orleans went to shocking lengths to conceal a confessed serial child molester who is still living but has never been prosecuted, a Guardian investigation has found.Upon review of hundreds of pages of previously secret church files, the Guardian has uncovered arguably the most complete account yet about the extremes to which the second-oldest Catholic archdiocese in the US went to coddle the admitted child molester Lawrence Hecker. Continue reading...

RNC committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon takes $120,000 salary from non-profit Center for American LibertyThe San Francisco lawyer Harmeet Dhillon is a fixture on Fox News who has garnered support from the likes of Matt Gaetz, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham; she also helms a non-profit that appears to have directed more than $1m into her law firm, Dhillon Law Group.Dhillon most recently made headlines when she signed on to represent Carlson in a gender discrimination lawsuit he and Fox News face from former producer Abby Grossberg. She also acted as an attorney for Donald Trump and former Project Veritas head James O'Keefe, who in 2021 sued Twitter for banning him. Continue reading...

The American midfielder has been invigorated by a successful year with his national team. And it has helped him forget a difficult time in SpainIn the two years and three months since Yunus Musah elected to play for the US men's national team over England, Italy and Ghana, he has become so integral to the American squad that it's easy to forget he is still just 20.After choosing to play for the US, Musah was immediately thrown into the fray of World Cup qualifying, starting for a team pursuing redemption after failing to reach Russia 2018. One year after committing to the US, Musah celebrated on a pitch in Costa Rica as he and his teammates secured their return to the World Cup. Continue reading...

Meeting between US secretary of state and Chinese leader was a diplomatic coup, but did not yield breakthroughsAntony Blinken's meeting with Xi Jinping on Monday may have lasted only 35 minutes, but both sides insisted that it represented progress in the strained relationship. The two men exchanged warm words while both refusing to budge on their respective core interests.That the US secretary of state was able to meet China's leader at all was a diplomatic coup for the highly anticipated visit. Blinken is the highest-ranking US official to visit Beijing since 2018, but until he arrived in the Chinese capital it was not confirmed that he would meet China's leader. Continue reading...

They are more likely to avoid alcohol than any other age group. Not easy, when you're facing the nerves of starting university or navigating a new jobMy first job out of university was on reception at some blue-chip company full of (probably) terrible suits, but that didn't matter because the only person who ever spoke to me was the other receptionist, and she was great. She had this kid who was a rascal, and one day the police called to say he'd been nicked for some rascally behaviour. To his credit," they said, he doesn't have any previous convictions." She replied: Well, give him a chance - he's only 13."Her voice popped into my head the other day when I was worrying about my daughter, and how non-alcohol-curious she is. Well, give her a chance - she's only 13. But my nieces are the same way, and they're older. My sister and I decided a while ago that this was our doing: they'd taken one look at us, or to be accurate, a million looks at us, and decided the Aperol bounce wasn't for them. And while I'm almost immune to parental guilt, I did feel fantastically bad about the idea that I might, just by enjoying it too much, have put my kids off alcohol.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The officials who ensure our consumer goods are safe are being lost to Tory neglect. They work without fanfare but they are vitalNever forget that all the sound and fury in Westminster is about something very real. Politicians and their parties are not all the same". On one side, the Conservatives diminish and damage the public realm, the lives and livelihoods of those with least and the quality of civic values. On the other side, Labour strives to improve public services, the public sphere and enhance the life chances and living standards of those people that the Tories do down.I'm not sure why I am still so easily shocked by the Tories' vandalism. But time and again I come across some new act of sabotage that takes my breath away. This time it's their stripping out of an already thin veneer of civilisation by laying waste to trading standards. Now this is a dull and invisible service, you might think, the sort of thing anyone from a first-world country could take for granted. No longer, just as you no longer assume the rivers are safe from sewage.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

A search and rescue effort is under way to find a tourist submersible that went missing in the north Atlantic while on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic. The US Coast Guard said 'a small submarine with five persons onboard' had gone missing in the vicinity of the Titanic wreck and that the vessel had the capacity to be submerged for 96 hours. However it was unclear whether it was still underwater or had surfaced

US's newest federal holiday commemorates emancipation of last enslaved people after civil warAmericans across the country celebrated Juneteenth, marking the relatively new national holiday on 19 June with cookouts, parades and other gatherings as they commemorated the end of slavery after the civil war.While many have treated the long holiday weekend as a reason for a party, others urged quiet reflection on America's often violent and oppressive treatment of its Black citizens. Continue reading...

The pandemic showed us how digital divides worsen inequality - this project shows they're not inevitableDigital poverty and exclusion hide in plain sight. In an era of hyper-connectivity, millions are left in the shadows, even in the wealthiest countries. Data from the US shows that a quarter of America's rural population, a staggering 14.5 million people, still don't have access to broadband. In a world where billions are connected, the stark reality of this absence looms large, leaving more than 3 billion people on the margins of the digital age. As life moves online, it only exacerbates existing inequalities, limiting access to education, healthcare, job opportunities and essential services.This takes us to Kerala in south India, home to about 34 million people. There, the communist-led state government is launching something called the Kerala Fibre Optical Network (KFON) - and it's a major milestone. (It is worth noting the irony that the communist government, which has a history of opposing the introduction of computers, is now at the forefront of this digital initiative.) In 2016, the state recognised the internet as a basic citizen's right, joining other polities like Finland, Costa Rica and France. Next on the agenda: making this new right mean something.Oommen C Kurian leads the health initiative at the Observer Research Foundation, a thinktank based in New Delhi Continue reading...

Motion was filed by prosecutors to restrict storage and use of discovery material turned over to defense in classified papers caseA Florida judge handed prosecutors in Donald Trump's classified documents lawsuit a significant victory on Monday by ruling the former president cannot publicly disclose any of the evidence against him.Trump, who was arraigned in Miami last week on a 37-count indictment over his improper storage and handling of classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort, can also only view, but not retain, any of the evidence under the direct supervision of his lawyers, the order from the magistrate judge, Bruce Reinhart, stated. Continue reading...

US's newest federal holiday - signed into law in 2021 - has its roots in the emancipation of Black Americans from slaveryMany Americans are celebrating Juneteenth, marking the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free.For generations, Black Americans have recognized the end of the darkest chapter in US history with joy, in the form of parades, street festivals, musical performances or cookouts. Continue reading...

At the outset of his ascent in frontline politics, Black Britons warned that Johnson was immoral and unscrupulous. We did tryThere is a Jamaican nugget of wisdom: If yu cyaan 'ear, yu mus' feel." It translates to those that don't hear must feel": in other words, if you fail to learn from caution you end up learning from consequence.Had Britain heard" the screams of caution from Black people about the racism and, therefore, unsuitability for office of Boris Johnson, there is a good chance Britain would not be feeling" the pain and shame of demise we are right now.Nels Abbey is a writer, broadcaster and former banker, and the author of Think Like a White ManDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Borrowed translations' using English words in Spanish forms make for speech that sounds slightly off to outsiders, study saysFew would doubt Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution in Cuba transformed the look of Miami. The city's vibrant Latin music and dance scene, thriving Cuban coffee bars, cigar shops, restaurants and colorful street art can all be credited to the wealth of culture that crossed the Florida Straits with the hundreds of thousands fleeing the island's new communist regime.Those changes, it turns out, also extend to the way Miami sounds. According to linguistic analysts at Florida International University's center for the humanities in an urban environment, a new dialect has evolved blending Spanish meanings and English words into a colloquial form of language readily understood here by those who speak and hear it, but which just sounds off" to the majority of English-speaking Americans. Continue reading...

Advocacy groups condemn Alliance Defending Freedom as ‘a danger to every American who values their freedoms’With the US besieged by a rightwing culture war campaign that aims to strip away rights from LGBTQ+ people and others, blame tends to be focused on Republican politicians and conservative media figures.But lurking behind efforts to roll back abortion rights, to demonize trans people, and to peel back the protections afforded to gay and queer Americans is a shadowy, well-funded rightwing legal organization, experts say. Continue reading...

The invasion has plunged Germany into an agonised debate about its history – this process is only just beginningUnder the veneer of western unity in support of Ukraine, reactions to the war across Europe have been informed by different countries’ readings of their own history, of earlier conflicts on this continent, and by their conceptions of Russia’s national character. There is no automatic consensus within democratic societies about the lessons of the past, nor should there be. Remembrance is often selective, and the way ahead involves a discussion about what went wrong before.Nowhere has this process of revisiting the past in search of the right decisions for the future been more fraught since the Russian invasion than in Germany. Over the past 16 months, the country has ended its heavy dependence on Russian oil and gas, abandoned its reluctance to send weapons to the war zone, and turned into one of Ukraine’s most important military and financial backers after the US. Most Germans now support this policy shift – or Zeitenwende (turning point) as Chancellor Olaf Scholz terms it – but public debate about the future of Germany’s security policy has not stopped. And arguments about history play a prominent part. Continue reading...